Why do you want it in inches? The size in inches is dependant on the medium. For instance pixels per inch. So depending on the ppi setting it will change the size in inches, that is why the best dimension is pixels.

While agreeing with Curt that inches are also depending of ppi I tried a bit myself and have a strange outcome. Some files have these info and most files not. I have some files of an other camera I haven't set a custom ACR setting for and they also still show on the default 240 ppi setting ACR uses after default install. They have the info in inches showing. Also some saved jpeg and PSD files show but most of them don't show it.

You can also set the option for inches showing under thumbnails using Bridge Thumbnails tab and under details choose the info form the pop up menu.

The default setting in Bridge preferences Metadata tab is hide empty fields (should be so because otherwise you have ton's of blank fields showing) and therefore the field only shows if the info is there in the metadata itself.

Really don't know the reason why some have it and others not. But again, like Curt already stated, the pixel info is the most reliable, having an image of 17,28 inches width at 300 ppi and without resample the image choosing 100 ppi using PS image size makes it 51,84 inches width. Yet the pixels in both scenarios stay at 5184 width

Curt, I want it in inches because when the guys out in the shop call me and ask how big a graphic is going to be, telling them the size in pixels helps not at all. I shouldn't have to break out a calculator and figure it out every time, when it seems like it'd be a pretty easy option to program into preferences. If pixel-size being my only option wasn't aggravating and unneccessarily obtuse given my workflow, I wouldn't have asked the question.

Omke, yeah, it's wierd that I can't get it to show in inches actually, there are a few places where you can tell Bridge to do so... but they just don't seem to take, no matter what I try. I don't think metadata is the issue, because 95% of the time, I'm just dealing with Illustrator EPSs and I would think it'd be pretty easy for Bridge to access and display that information. :/

If you read my post #1 you realize that changing the ppi setting changes the image size. So you have to have more info to have program give you size in inches. In Bridge I see a size in inches, but it has some arbitrary resolution set (ppi) so seems like that is not helpful to anyone unless using the same resolution for printing.

To see the size problem, open Photoshop and click edit/image size. Uncheck "resample image" so the image size stays the same. Then change the ppi and see how the image size changes.

So someone has to determine the ppi first. If you have an image size in pixels, and set the ppi, PS will compute the image size. Can not see option in Bridge to change resolution.